Anaheim, CA Earthquake Safety: Soft-Story Retrofit (2026)

Soft-story buildings are multi-story wood-frame structures with a first floor significantly weaker than the stories above, typically due to tuck-under parking or large storefront openings. The 1994 Northridge earthquake demonstrated that these buildings are among the most likely to collapse in a major quake. Anaheim has thousands of pre-1978 apartment buildings with this configuration, and the Newport-Inglewood Fault running just south of the city is capable of a magnitude 7.0 or larger event. Unlike Los Angeles (Ordinance 183893) or Santa Monica, Anaheim has not adopted a mandatory soft-story retrofit program as of this writing. However, California Assembly Bill 1857 (2022) directed the California Building Standards Commission to develop statewide functional recovery standards, and the California Residential Mitigation Program offers grants up to 3,000 dollars under the Earthquake Soft-Story program for qualifying owner-occupied properties. Voluntary retrofits typically install steel moment frames or plywood shear walls at the ground level, tie the framing into new foundation bolts, and reinforce columns. Permits are issued under Anaheim Municipal Code Title 15 and require engineered plans sealed by a licensed structural engineer. FEMA P-807 is the standard prescriptive guideline for soft-story retrofits. Owners of soft-story buildings should expect higher earthquake insurance premiums until retrofitted and should disclose the building type during property transactions.